Timex ONE Relay Recap

The Timex ONE Relay was brilliant. 

I was invited to participate in the Timex ONE Relay at the beginning of September. To say I was honored would be a complete understatement. But let me back up. Here’s how this story really begins:

When I was pregnant with my second baby, I was under the care of a phenomenal doctor. Soon after delivering my baby girl, she retired. You see, she has been battling Parkinson’s Disease for some time now. Prior to retirement she was very active with The Michael J. Fox Foundation and with all of her extra time has since been working tirelessly with this organization as well as her own, Shaking with Laughter, to raise money and help find a cure for this insufferable and debilitating disease. 

It was under the guise of monthly maternal well-checks that she first told me about Charity Miles and also told me about her experiences not only as a cyclist but as a marathoner as well. She told me I absolutely needed to add a marathon to my bucket list. At first I guffawed and said to myself, “heck no!” But guess what, folks? As soon as she said those words to me, the marathon has been on my bucket list.

After doc told me about Charity Miles, I dutifully started tracking my miles for various charities. The three most common charities I donate my runs to are the The Michael J. Fox Foundation, Alzheimer’s Assocation, and Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. All three of these organizations are very important to me for very different reasons. 

I received a direct invitation from Charity Miles to run in this amazing event called the Timex ONE Relay. Timex is beta-testing a new GPS watch and wanted real runners to try it out and provide feedback. But they know we all lead busy lives, so they took it up a notch. Timex is donating $100 for each mile run to the charity each of us choose.

My run was on October 15. I ran 4 miles. And I chose to donate my miles to the Alzheimer’s Association. My grandfather fought this ugly battle, and my family had to bear witness. It’s not a pretty disease. It robs everyone involved of beauty, love, and happiness. There are no known cures, though there are medications to help slow the process, but a lot more research needs to be done on this disease. 

It was tough to choose one charity to give my miles to, and I’m ashamed to say that in my haste of starting the Iron Horse Half Marathon, I completely forgot to start my Charity Miles app for my 13.1 miles. But I feel like I made up for it today, and I hope the money goes to good use.

The experience was amazing. I met some really great people. And I even got to run from a pediatrician from my son’s pediatric office — and I got to see my former doctor as well, which was a very nice surprise. We ran our miles, cheered each other on, rode around town in a van together, and took some fun photos and videos. The photographer and videographer were awesome, the crew was great, and the Timex rep got far too many texts from me asking silly questions the night before the relay.

I am humbled that I was given the opportunity to run for the Timex ONE Relay. It was such a great experience. I hope all of these wonderful charities everyone was running for put their dollars to some good use.

The relay continues on for 15 more days and wraps up in NYC. Click here to read stories, watch videos, and follow the rest of the runners!

Thanks Timex — for sponsoring me!

xo

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